Esteban Ocon, Force India, Bahrain International Circuit, 2018

Perez will be only Force India driver to run new front wing

2018 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Force India has only one example of its new front wing for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, which will be used by Sergio Perez.

Esteban Ocon told media at the track including RaceFans the team “only have one” of the new wings for the VJM11, and his team mate will be the one to use it.

Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Stoffel Vandoorne, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Bahrain International Circuit, 2018
Bahrain Grand Prix build-up in pictures
“Normal policy is it’s normally the driver on top in the championship,” said Ocon. “Even though we have no points [it] should be Sergio.”

Both Force Indias were eliminated in Q2 in Australia and they finished outside the top 10. Ocon said the team’s main performance shortfall is on the aerodynamic side.

“I think to be honest it’s not just downforce, it’s a lot of things,” he said. “But mainly it’s is the downforce which brings performance in F1.”

“But compared to last year this car is still faster than last year, it’s an improvement from the other car,” he added.

Ocon said he and Perez have given the team similar feedback about the car despite their differences in driving style. “At the end we are chasing the same balance, we want a neutral car. The good thing is that we are both on the same page and we can bring the team to the same conclusion.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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6 comments on “Perez will be only Force India driver to run new front wing”

  1. Money is running out on FI?

    Looks the development rate is even slower than anticipated from Barcelona.

    1. Yes, nothing new here. Teams don’t receive their first FOM payments for the season until start of April. In previous years Bernie would provide a bridging loan, however for 2018 teams have to wait until start of April for first 2018 payment exacerbating Force India’s precarious financial situation. Which is probably the contributing factor in why they only have one new front wing.

  2. Vettel fan 17 (@)
    5th April 2018, 13:53

    Hopefully they can get the second front wing soon

  3. Let’s see if they manage to keep their cars apart.. or am I just too cynical?!

    1. My goodness, man, upon what do you base such an outlandish remark!

      “He try to kill me!”

  4. Well, since Perez was the better classified driver from FI on the first race, it does make sense for him to get the new front wing first. I think Ocon can’t blame the team on that decision (and he didn’t).

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